Big Wins for Black Execs

African-Americans fared well on Election Day in races for high-level local offices.

Four cities elected their first black mayor:

buffalo-byron-brown-2.jpeg Buffalo, N.Y. - Democrat  Byron Brown (pictured left) will lead the state's second-largest city aft er winning a four-way contest with 64 percent of the vote. cincinnati-mark-mallory.jpeg

Cincinnati, Ohio (corretion below in comments)- State Senator Mark Mallory (pictured right) defeated Councilman David Pepper 52 to 48 percent in a nonpartisan runoff.

Youngstown, Ohio - Jay Williams, an independent, took 52 percent of the vote in beating out Democratic State Senator Robert Hagan and four other candidates.

Asheville, N.C. - Terry Bellamy was victorious over her fellow council member Joe Dunn with 57 percent of the vote.

Incumbent winners:

atlanta-shirley-franklin.jpeg Atlanta, Ga. - Mayor Shirley Franklin (pictured left) was reelected in a landslide against token opposition with 91 percent of the vote.

Detroit, Mich. - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick came from behind against challenger Freeman Hendrix, winding up with a 53 to 47 percent margin of victory.

King County, Wash. - Democratic County Executive Ron Sims (pictured king-county-ron-sims.jpeg right) won a tighter-than-expected race for a third term--55 to 41 percent--versus County Councilman David Irons, a Republican.

The first black mayors of two cities lost re-election bids:

Fayetteville, N.C. - Mayor Marshall Pitts Jr. was denied a second term by Tony Chavonne, who earned 57 percent of the vote.

Toledo, Ohio - Mayor Jack Ford lost to Carty Finkbeiner, his predecessor who led the city from 1993-2001 but couldn't run again four years ago because of term limits. Finkbeiner polled 61 percent to Ford's 38 percent.